Aircraft servicing efficiency is of the essence in airline industry. Time involved in performing various servicing tasks is directly related to the amount of time an aircraft is able to spend in flight. The more an aircraft is in flight the higher the potential profits associated with that aircraft.
Servicing an aircraft includes passenger boarding and enplaning of the aircraft, cargo servicing, galley servicing, and passenger compartment servicing or sometimes referred to as cabin cleaning. Timing, sequencing, and manner as to which the aircraft servicing is performed are critical in minimizing turnaround time of the aircraft.
Currently, servicing is performed utilizing a passenger bridge and service vehicles for galley, cleaning, and cargo handling. Passengers enplane and deplane only from a port side of the aircraft using a passenger-bridge. Typical passenger-bridges are capable of extending, through the use of telescoping sections, to mate with the aircraft. Vehicles for Galley, cleaning, and cargo handling are used to perform respective tasks only on a starboard side of the aircraft. The passenger servicing task is performed sequentially with the galley and cabin cleaning servicing in order to prevent interference with passengers and servicing crew members. The potential for interference with passengers and servicing crew members exists in forward portions of the aircraft since the passengers deplane in the forward portion of the aircraft and passengers and servicing crew members use the same isles of the aircraft. Servicing crew members are able to service aft portions of the aircraft, when an aircraft requires such servicing, simultaneously with deplaning of the aircraft, as no interference exists during deplaning between passengers and crew members in the aft portion of the aircraft.
Three main types of airline bridges currently exist for passenger enplaning and deplaning of an aircraft. The three types are an apron drive bridge, a radial bridge, and a fixed pedestal bridge. The apron drive bridge is the most complex due to its rotating and telescoping capabilities, which allow for some freedom in parking location of an aircraft on an apron. The radial bridge and the fixed pedestal bridge require that the aircraft be parked at a specific spot on the apron. The radial bridge is rotated to mate a bridgehead to a passenger door. The fixed pedestel bridge is the least expensive of the three main types of bridges. The fixed pedestal bridge has a fixed main portion and an adjustable bridgehead. The pedestel bridge has a bridgehead that retracts when an aircraft is approaching an apron and extends when the aircraft is parked, at which time the bridgehead docks to an aircraft passenger door.
The use of galley, cleaning, and cargo handling vehicles can be time consuming due to steps involved in servicing the aircraft and aircraft servicing location availability. The trucks typically need to be loaded at a location that is a considerable distance from an airline terminal of interest and driven over to the airline terminal, mated to the aircraft, and unloaded to service the aircraft. Aircraft servicing location availability is limited since truck servicing of the aircraft can only be performed from the starboard side of the aircraft so as not to interfere with the passenger bridge on the port side of the aircraft. Mating of the trucks to the aircraft is also undesirable since an aircraft can potentially be damaged in the process.
Current servicing of an aircraft is not efficient and current bridge designs are not physically applicable to newly introduced faster flying aircraft configurations. For example, a sonic cruiser is being studied by The Boeing Company that has a canard wing in an upper forward portion of the aircraft, which interferes with current passenger bridge designs. Also, due to relationship of aircraft servicing doors and aircraft wings, long turnaround times are required for servicing the sonic cruiser. The longer time spent servicing the aircraft on the ground negates the benefit of the faster flying capability in terms of overall aircraft utilization.
Through introduction of faster flying aircraft and need for increased number of flights per aircraft, there is a desire to increase the efficiency of aircraft servicing. It is therefore, desirable to provide an aircraft servicing apparatus and method that accounts for newly introduced aircraft configurations and provides increased servicing efficiency for both traditional style aircraft and newly introduced aircraft.